The Met Council is the Twin Cities' very own "regional authority", which is a body intended to be the planning agency to help accommodate growth across the metro area.

The perennially controversial council is once again in the news, as a task force recently took a look at how we might update the Met Council and address some of the concerns expressed about it. I'm rarely one to take the "expert" opinion as gospel, however, so I thought I would conduct my own "zero-based review" of the Met Council, and see how it stacks up against other such authorities across the country.

I specifically wanted to answer a few basic questions:

How unique is the Met Council in terms of its structure, scope and spending?

The Met Council is not a Council of Governments (COG), and many locals believe that provides the Twin Cities an advantage. Is that the case?

What alternative models are out there, and how well do they work for residents?

As I developed this report, I was struck by how often "people in the know" were surprised by the information in it. While it is not intended to be the definitive report on the Met Council, it does provide context and new information that I think is useful for concerned citizens and legislators.